iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
A documentary on The Dalai Lama’s untold story, Never Forget Tibet, was released worldwide on the occasion of the spiritual leader’s 89th birthday. Directed by Jean-Paul Mertinez, the documentary explores details of the Nobel Peace Laureate’s incredible escape into exile for the first time on film in his own words, with the Indian officer who led him to safety — late Havildar Mander Singh.
Featuring the Tibetan community in exile and those with historic ties to Tibet, the film explores the Dalai Lama’s compassion for a world seemingly in crisis today and seeks to find out what can be learnt from his inspirational life story, Tibetan culture and its ancient spirituality.
Inspired by the book ‘An Officer and His Holiness’ by Rani Singh, the film is narrated by legendary British actor Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey, Paddington), and features music from Grammy-nominated artist Anoushka Shankar.
The film is produced by Compassionate Films and the Executive Producers are Templeheart Films, Lyndon Baldock, Gavin Patterson and Rani Singh.
The worldwide digital release was done in collaboration with The Italian Buddhist Union, Rome, Italy. The feature-length documentary will be available on leading streaming platforms, including Apple TV+, Amazon and Google Play. In 1959, the occupying Chinese troops suppressed the Tibetan national uprising in Lhasa and forced the 14th Dalai Lama and over 80,000 Tibetans into exile in India and neighboring countries.
On reaching India after a three-week-long and treacherous journey, the Dalai Lama first took up residence for about a year in Mussoorie in Uttarakhand.
On March 10, 1960, just before moving to Dharamsala, which also serves as the headquarters of the exiled Tibetan establishment, the Dalai Lama said: “For those of us in exile, I said that our priority must be resettlement and the continuity of our cultural traditions. We, Tibetans, would eventually prevail in regaining freedom for Tibet.”
Currently, the government-in-exile is based in Dharamsala, a town in Himalayan foothills where a community of Tibetans lives in exile with the Dalai Lama, hoping to sustain their struggle to secure complete autonomy in their Chinese-ruled homeland, Tibet.
